Putting The Sports Back In Sports Night!

I promised, and now I deliver! The First (Possibly Annual) Putting The Sports Back In Sports Night Fic Challenge.

The deal: behind the cut tag are 30 major sports stories from 2006 (and one from January 1, 2007). There are links to relevant overviews for each story.

What you do: survey the stories behind the cut tag; comment in this post with the number/description of the story you'd like to claim.

What I do: mark that story as claimed.

Then we all: take that story and use it as a starting point for a Sports Night fic. You don't have to know anything about sports to write for this challenge! I promise! The fic you write doesn't have to be about the sports story you've chosen; you can use that story in any way you see fit, as long as there's a tie between your fic and the story you've claimed.

But I don't know anything about sports! That's why we've got "sports betas" lined up -- people who do know and who are willing to help you out. When it gets closer to due date time, I'll post a list of people you can contact for sports help. (And if you don't want to sign up for the challenge but you're willing to answer questions about [basketball, cycling, tennis, etc], send me an email [minervacat at gmail dot com] and I'll add you to the list.)

Due dates? Ack! Stories are due March 15, the opening day of the NCAA tournament. This is a challenge, not an exchange, so I won't be running you down if you don't get something finished, but I might cry a little if we don't get many fics. On the 15th, I will post a Master List of who claimed what sports story, and you can link me to your fic, posted on your own livejournal or webspace.

Other Questions? Yes, I know that this list is U.S.-centric -- because Sports Night is a U.S. sports show. If there's something not on my list that you'd like to write, go for it -- but compiling this list was hair-tearing-out enough as it was, and I didn't even know where to start with things like cricket or European soccer.

College Basketball:

George Mason goes to the NCAA Final Four -- the first mid-major team to do so since 1979. [link one] [link two]: mosca

Despite taking a two-month break after the death of his father, Earl, in May, Tiger Woods won eight titles, including two majors, in just 15 events and was named PGA Tour Player of the Year for the eighth time. [link one] [link two]: cosmic